#godly ending

[asteriass]

9 R.I.P. | Seiya route thoughts

❝ I'd like you to be my burden. ❞

Personal Rating:

8.5/10

Seiya's banter with Misa was so super amusing (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)

Definitely the most romantic of all the routes so far

Seiya and Misa's occasional imaginary scenarios about one another were entertaining lol

Full Thoughts:

Definitely the route that made me want to squeal the most! Usually in otome games, I'm not super big on heavily flirty characters, but Seiya... he captured my heart (づ>/////<)づ♡

What I particularly liked about him was that totally dramatic way he'd flirt, saying the most heart-throbbing things with the most amusingly serious tones just to tease Misa haha. Truly, the twos back on forth made the whole route pretty fun!

In terms of the plot, it was really nice to see how Seiya's personal background impacted the way he approached other characters--and how this was noticeable even without the game directly mentioning it to our face. For example, even though Hibiki himself didn't show up in Seiya's route, I couldn't help but think about the type of relationship he and Seiya had. We see in other routes how Seiya is sympathetic towards Hibiki, and it's even mentioned how he, in particular, provided Hibiki a lot of emotional support. Seiya said he wouldn't take his eyes off Hibiki until he crosses over, and given Hibiki was damned for similar reasons as Seiya, it really is apparent why Seiya decided to take responsibility over Hibiki, since Seiya is somebody who to an extent would've been able to understand Hibiki. Another instance would be with Misa herself, during Seiya's route. He was able to recognise that Misa's mother still struggled to move on from the death of her husband, and he was able to give appropriate advice based on that, since he too knew the struggle and heartbreak that came with the loss of a loved one.

In terms of endings, I think I prefer Seiya's Godly End slightly more, but honestly, the Heavenly End was really great too!!

All in all, a really lovely route!! Heavy doses of amusing dramatics and romance that made me smile each time. I really love the way they executed his character dynamic as well!! His route truly didn't disappoint 🥹

[asteriass]

9 R.I.P. | Hibiki route thoughts

❝ Your life, give it all to me. ❞

Personal Rating:

8.75/10

Misa is so right, Hibiki is absolutely adorable!!!!

So emotional (╥﹏╥)

Seiya's interactions with Hibiki and Misa were quite amusing

I really REALLY liked his voice... Shunichi Toki did a great job as Hibiki

His grin and smile, I love it sm

Full Thoughts:

I noticed this before too, but I really like how smoothly the common route flows into the romantic route.

Talking about Hibiki's route itself, I'm gonna be honest, a partial reason for why I probably enjoyed the route as much as I did is because I found myself relating to the characters at times too...

I really liked the way Hibiki and Misa were able to relate to one another in certain aspects. And so because of this, I was really able to enjoy the two's relationship. Hibiki's route is super character-driven. Majority, if not all, conflicts were due to emotional or relationship turmoil between the leads, and honestly, I enjoyed that. It was a bit different from how Kureha's route was set up, but I'm glad that the difference in direction is there. The plot was heavily focused on Misa and Hibiki's personal relationship, and because the two were constantly doing something...it didn't feel draggy. I really adored how both Misa and Hibiki grew throughout the route 🥹

Speaking of emotional turmoil, I really enjoyed the insight into Hibiki's internal conflicts that we got from scenes in his point of view!! It made the angsty scenes even more angsty... Having said that! I do wish the climax got a little bit more room to breathe. In both "Good" endings, he comes to terms with his hatred a little too swiftly? Not to the point that it's nonsensical, it really did make sense in both cases. But... I do wish there was a bit more time between his confrontation with Isao Tsukigami in Hell, and the final flower on Misa's sheet being colored... y'know... just a tiny bit more time for him to digest.

HOWEVER, I loved both of his endings (Heavenly and Godly). It's truly hard to choose a favorite... I loved aspects of both!! Both are bittersweet (and one even more than the other) and made me emotional, but they were great!!

Both in their own ways felt like fitting conclusions to me... very bittersweet though 😭

Hibiki's route is one of those ones that I'm likely to replay. Honestly, depending on my mood, his rating probably gets bumped up to a 9 lol. Hibiki is super adorable, and I wish to protect his genuine smiles... he truly deserves to be happy ❤️‍🩹

[asteriass]

9 R.I.P. | Minami route thoughts

❝ All that there can ever be between us is despair. ❞

Personal Rating:

10/10

I LOVED HIS ROUTE SM I really didn't want it to end 😭❤️‍🩹

A great balance of romance and plot!

Minami's contradictory personality was super intriguing to explore ( ≧ᗜ≦)

Full Thoughts:

It's kinda funny how you have to practically max out Misa's Insanity stat in the game to even get to Minami's route—quite literally have to be almost crazy to get into a relationship with him LOL

Speaking of the Insanity stat, I really enjoyed how we got to see the impacts on Misa with it being so high! Her decision-making was definitely a lot more different than how it usually has been in routes prior. Not to mention, the almost cryptic voice in her head that started appearing as we moved into Minami's route. It was the loudest whenever Misa was distressed or in a similarly unstable state, and it was interesting to read her interactions with... well, herself! Especially during the Imaginary Nightmare bad ending.

I really adored Minami and Misa's relationship. From their bickering and their "will-they-won't-they" (as Minami put it) stage to them being willing to go to massive lengths for the other's sake. Honestly, even in general, these types of dynamics really appeal to me. I'm a huge fan of romances where the leads initially start off with very opposing goals, but over time grow to trust each other immensely—something that was a notable part of Misa and Minami's relationship as well.

An aspect of the two's relationship that was really interesting was how, to a certain extent, the two almost paralleled each other. At one point or another, both struggled with holding onto their identity and being changed by the pressure from somebody else. Of course, the circumstances and the severity were vastly different for both; however, for both, there had once been that worry about their "identity". Furthermore, there was also a battle between their consciousness and their inner "desire" that the two struggled with (in this route, particularly). In Misa's case, the voice in her head would often tell her to do things she couldn't dare bring herself to do—killing Minami, to doubt his trust, to look out for her own self only. Something which Misa's consciousness would have to actively tell that voice to stop doing. With Minami, similarly, his inner desire would war with his consciousness. He grew to love Misa, and so even if that darker part of him told him to just take her soul, he couldn't bring himself to do it, and had to actively go against that other desire.

By the way, from his character design down to his personality, Minami fits my tastes to a tea. He was honestly a big reason why I actually bought this game, and I'm SUPERRRRRRRR happy that he didn't disappoint 🥹. I really adored Minami's arrogant and cheeky side; characters like that have always been my favorite! And with his internal struggle about his identity as a demon and being afraid of losing who he really is...it's as if his character was practically made for me! :(⁄ ⁄ᵒ̶̶̷́⁄ ᵕ ⁄ᵒ̶̶̷̀⁄ ⁄):

About the route itself, what was most shocking was definitely... THEM DOING IT??? HELLO???? I WAS SO SHOCKED 😭😭????? Prior to this, since Koyo's route, I'd been wondering if the most "incubus" part about Minami was just... his dream-related abilities and powers of coercion. So honestly, it's not that I didn't expect it, but rather, I'd talked myself down from having that expectation lol. So when Minami actually went "skin-to-skin ritual," I was super surprised lmao. I enjoyed the moment though!! Super sweet and lovely 🥹!! Also, that CG of Minami is probably my fav 🤧!

Speaking of CGs, with Minami having the most CGs, I felt super spoiled ( ,,◕ _ ◕,, ). I believe in the common route alone he had 4 (not counting the individual CG variants). Plus, one of his bad endings also had a CG (which had like 3 variants!), something with no other LI so far has had. So it was a really tasty buffet for me huhu...

WAHHHH all in all I super enjoyed his route!! The voice acting by Nobuhiko Okamoto was top-notch. The voice range expressed for Minami was really great~~ Like Hibiki and Koyo's routes, Minami's route was one of those that I wanted to replay immediately after finishing it lol. I really enjoyed both of Minami's good endings (and the Imaginary Nightmare bad ending too lowkey cause I liked the angst...). I'm really excited to see where they take his character in the sequel!! [Minami's at the forefront of the poster alongside Mr. Hidden route, so that makes me even more excited 👀]

[asteriass]

9 R.I.P. | Koyo route thoughts

❝ I found you the first time, remember? Finders keepers. ❞

Personal Rating:

9.75/10

I can see why he's so popular cause OMG???

The way he pulls up his mask whenever he's flustered... super adorable 🥹

The voice acting in route was so good! Sold me on all the tense moments!!

Full Thoughts:

I think I mentioned this before with Kureha, too, but especially in Koyo's case, character design-wise, when I first bought the game, he didn't really pique my interest that much. However, y'know, as they say, first impressions and everything, and OMG did his route blow me away!!!

Right from the beginning, and down till the climax, I was incredibly invested. Usually, as I play otomes, I look forward to CGs a lot. However, I got so invested in his route that I didn't even realise I had not gotten any CG in his route, save for 1, during my first playthrough. And because I was so invested, I didn't even mind lol. So far, Koyo's route has to be my favorite, writing-wise. The execution of the backstory scenes was also my favorite out of all the other routes so far.

One thing that also particularly stood out about Koyo's route was that his endings were pretty happy compared to all the other guys. And while the blissful ends didn't inherently make me enjoy him more, what made them really good is, once again, the execution. Like, I'm a major fan of the supernatural romance genre, especially the angsty ones, and a lot of them end up in the pitfall where the writers give the characters a "happy ending" for the sake of it. But it didn't feel like this with Koyo at all. About midway through his arc, we learned that, similar to Misa, Koyo is also a living ghost (which is what allowed the two to have a "happier end", since Koyo was dead dead). And I was thinking about it as it was revealed, and I realised that the story had been hinting towards this slowly. For example, unlike Kureha, Koyo didn't have adverse effects whenever he touched Misa. Back then, Misa had simply rationalised it as potential being due to Koyo mentally telling himself that Misa is a real ghost, and so psychologically her warmth didn't make him go crazy. And even outside of that, unlike the other love interests, the game never really explicitly tells you "Streamer Yozora (Koyo) passed away," I think? We are only told that he hasn't streamed in quite a while, and thus, it is assumed that the likely cause of this is his dying. However, that is then very similar to how Misa is assumed to be dead because nobody has seen her after her accident. And with both Misa and Koyo, that assumption is furthered by the fact that they are ghosts. But because these similarities exist, it isn't out of nowhere when we learn that Koyo is also a living ghost similar to Misa. You get what I mean? So like, his "happier endings" make sense and are well done.

Speaking of his endings, I enjoyed both his Godly and Heavenly endings. There were different aspects of both that I really liked, and regardless of either one, the romance between Misa and Koyo is really lovely, like seriously... KOYO WAS SO CUTE (≧ヮ≦) 💕 I really enjoyed his interactions with Misa. Even his small jealous moments... super adorable! (´▽`ʃƪ)♡

All in all, Koyo's route is one of the best I've played so far in the game. I wasn't a fan of his before, but I totally get the hype now 🤧

Side note:

Minami's first introduction is through this route (if you're completing all the Realms in order), and they absolutely nailed it. Sure, it was a super tense moment (which is what made me enjoy it even more), but I was smiling to myself the entire time, so much so my cheeks started hurting haha. I love you, Minami. I'm excited for your route ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Also, I really enjoyed Sena's role in the climax as well! I adored his relationship with Koyo ❤️‍🩹

[asteriass]

9 R.I.P. | Sena route thoughts

❝ Please let me continue to watch over you... ❞

Personal Rating:

7/10

I really adore Koyo and Sena's friendship

If Sena was real, I'd definetly be charmed into fangirling for him ໒꒰ྀིっ⸝⸝⸝ ꒱ྀི১

His voice was really good, I especially loved the delivery of his lines when he's embarrassed/flustered haha

Full Thoughts:

Sena, as a character, was really great. Charming, sincere, yet coupled with a foreboding sense that only makes you even more intrigued about what is going on with him.

I really loved his character design too. He definetly a lot more on the pretty boy side in terms of visuals it's totally right up my alley (⸝⸝⸝- ᴗ -⸝⸝⸝ ;)

His route, though, I have a bit of mixed feelings about.

I enjoyed how different it was, in terms of development, from the School Ghost Stories arc. In that, Misa actually loses direct contact with Sena pretty early on as she goes back to her "normal" life. With a part of the conflict being how internally, Misa and Sena still want to hang out with one another, and (of course) be with each other.

However, even though I really wanted to like Sena's route, personally...it was a bit underwhelming. I really wish they had explored Sena's past and how he was forced to let go of his dreams due to his illness. Outside of the common route, where Sena struggles with coming to terms with the reality of his death, the route itself didn't really explore it as much as I would've like it to. But then really the most we got was the narration flashback.

And I just wish... it was a bit emotional. Cause the potential is really built into Sena's backstory, but the delivery of it in his route didn't hit as good for me.

In terms of good endings, I preferred his Godly End: Our Two Dreams. I adored the Tanabata references in it! Plus, I've realised that I generally don't seem to prefer endings where Misa just dies and ends up being with the Love Interest that way, cause both Sena's and Kureha's Heavenly end had that and I found myself not really enjoying it as much 🤔. Having said that, once again, Sena was really amusing in the Heavenly End as well. I also...really like his little possessive streak ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

Overall, Sena was an enjoyable character; his route just wasn't for me, hence I couldn't rate it as high as I would've liked to. But y'know this is why I'm actually now quite looking forward to his route in the 9 R.I.P. sequel. I wanna see how he acts in the upcoming game 👀

[asteriass]

9 R.I.P. | Kureha route thoughts

❝ I've had my eye on you even before you came to this world. ❞

Personal Rating:

8/10

Kureha is so sweet omg 🥹????

Embarrassed to admit but a few of the teensy jumpscares got me lol

Hinagaku's wraith sprite artwork was really good

Full Thoughts:

Y'know, playing this route really made me realise how many trust issues otome games have given me. Because whenever Kureha was sweet in the common route, I couldn't help but wonder... what's the catch...?

Turns out, there wasn't really one. He is genuinely a sweet guy whom Misa could rely on. I suppose another partial reason for my somewhat distrust might've just been because I immediately fell for the "He is the Divine Invocation executioner" red herring (even since the common route), which is ironic given his entire color scheme is red... but I suppose back then I merely took it as a red flag instead... (Not that color scheme is a good indicator of either lol)

Anyway, I really enjoyed his point of view segments. They were incredibly heartwarming to read, and gosh, the way he'd talk about Misa so lovingly!! Practically had me swoon~

Now, the route is shorter than I usually expect. I'm not sure whether this is just a characteristic of the School Ghost Stories routes (Kureha & Hibiki), or whether ALL future routes will be similar in length to this one. However, to me, it didn't feel like the romantic development was hindered due to it. I think it really helped that the common route already did a really nice build-up leading up to Kureha's route.

In terms of plot...it was kinda slow initially. It takes a nice while to get into the actual meat, and I kinda sorta felt bored initially. Not that it's bad, but the initial slowness, combined with the generally repetitive tasks they were doing, was not doing wonders for my brain... 😭

In terms of the Good Endings, I definitely preferred Kureha's Godly Ending, wayyyyy more than the Heavenly Ending. The former was a more true "happy ending", so it ended up being more satisfying because it managed to tie up the loose ends

Towards the end of his route, Kureha is described as a "reliable big brother" (due to how he was towards Hinagaku), and I like to think that though he didn't come to remember his memories of the past until much later, that "reliable" aspect of him stuck even after his death. And that's why he was so kind towards Misa--it was in his nature to look after others. He is somebody who is protective of those he cares for; he's somebody who wants them to rely on him. And I like how those aspects of him easily shone through, well before his past is even revealed (both to the player and him). As Misa said, there is no innate darkness in his spirit. On the contrary, he's a pretty gentle person.

So all in all, I'd say Kureha's route was quite lovely. In terms of character archetypes, he's not somebody I'd usually expect myself to be into but he won my heart!